HOUSTON — TransCanada has begun moving oil into the Keystone XL pipeline’s southern leg, which runs from Oklahoma to the Texas coast, a company spokesman said Monday. “TransCanada is pleased to confirm that at approximately 10:04 am Central Time on Saturday, December 7, 2013, the company began to inject oil into the Gulf Coast Project pipeline as it moves closer to the start of commercial service,” TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said in an email. The pipeline owner will need to fill the newly constructed line before it can begin delivering oil to refineries along the Gulf Coast, including those in...

WASHINGTON, March 18 (UPI) -- Washington has given Petrobras America Inc. permission to start oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, a regulator said. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement gave Petrobras approval to use a floating production storage offloading facility at its Cascade-Chinook project in the Gulf of Mexico. The approval marks the first time FPSO technology will be used in U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The oil and gas project is about 165 miles off the coast of Louisiana in 8,200 feet of water. The FPSO has a production capacity of...

Noble Corp. in January announced plans to move one of its deep-water drilling rigs out of the Gulf of Mexico amid a spill-related slowdown in activity. This week, the Swiss-based driller made good on its promise. It loaded the Noble Clyde Boudreaux, an ultra-deepwater semisubmersible, on a ship in Pascagoula, Miss., that will carry the rig 5,000 miles to Brazil, where it has a contract with Shell. That new contract, starting in April, will last for a year and is $290,000 per day less than the previous Gulf lease, Noble said. Noble, Diamond Offshore and other offshore drilling contractors have...

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Isaac closed in on the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast on Monday, triggering some mandatory evacuation orders and disrupting U.S. offshore oil production as it threatened to make landfall between Florida and Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane. The wide, slow-moving storm swiped south Florida on Sunday and strengthened over the warm Gulf waters. It was expected to reach land Tuesday night or early Wednesday, the anniversary of devastating Hurricane Katrina seven years ago. The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned that the storm could push vast amounts of seawater over the shore, flooding the...

A federal whistleblower lawsuit has been filed against Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas, now known as Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, charging the provider of abortion services with fraudulent Medicaid claims in the amount of nearly $6 million. The lawsuit, filed by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), on behalf of former Planned Parenthood clinic director, Abby Johnson, accused Planned Parenthood of submitting over 87,000 "false, fraudulent, or ineligible claims for Medicaid reimbursements” under Title XIX, in association with the Texas Women’s Health Program. The Medicaid claims, filed between 2007 and 2009, were valued at more than $5.7 million. The...

Environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, have raised concerns that the pipeline could foul underground and surface water supplies, increase air pollution around refineries and harm wildlife. They also have speculated about what they consider inadequate pipeline safety and emergency spill responses….. Supporters say the project could be a boon for U.S. jobs and energy production while strengthening a friendly source of oil.

Former President George W. Bush says criticism from some, including prominent rapper Kanye West, that his handling of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina showed he did not care about black people represented "an all-time low." In his memoir, "Decision Points," to be released next Tuesday, Bush writes that charges flung at him that he was a racist during the Katrina crisis "was the worst moment of my presidency." In excerpts of an interview of Bush by NBC's "Today" show, the former president was asked about West's comment that "George Bush doesn't care about black people." The accusation arose because many blacks...

Two weeks into Kenneth Feinberg's reign as oil spill claims administrator, he's failed to live up to expectations he set for the process -- and he admits it. "Those critics who say Ken Feinberg raised our expectations and then is not living up to those expectations, they're absolutely right, and I owe them an apology," he said in a telephone interview Tuesday. Specifically, Feinberg, who took over control Aug. 23 of a $20 billion fund established by BP to pay for losses caused by its oil spill, promised to issue emergency payments for up to six months of lost wages...

President Obama welcomed the New Orleans Saints to the White House on Monday to celebrate the team's Super Bowl victory. It's arguably the most attention he's given Louisiana since visiting the state in early June. Obama made three trips to Louisiana during the course of the oil spill. The last came on June 4, six weeks before the well was capped. Despite the fact the Deepwater Horizon explosion resulted in the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history -- just 50 miles off the Louisiana coast -- his administration is instead showering attention on the political battleground of Florida. Louisiana residents...

It took two weeks for everyone in America to get indignant about the oil spill. Many people suddenly were convinced of the health hazards of chemical dispersants. Dozens of Congressmen became experts on the proper variety of well casing to use when drilling for oil. But when the oil stops gushing and the summer ends, are we going to realize this damage has all been vastly overblown? It doesn't get much attention, but there's been a steady trickle of good news about the aftermath. Yesterday NOAA said it was re-opening one third of the closed Gulf fishing area, where oil...

On her first trip to the Gulf Coast since the BP oil spill, First Lady Michelle Obama encouraged Americans to consider vacationing on the region’s beaches that have not been directly impacted by oil. “It is vacation time. Folks are looking for things to do with their kids, and this would be a great opportunity to do a few things -- help this community, send a different message about the extent of the spill, and also think long term about how the rest of the country can help this economy and the folks down here,” Mrs. Obama said at the...

Gulf Coast residents attempting to flee today's lethal "chemical rape" and further non-consensual human experimentation before forced evacuations begin need compassionate Americans' help. A group of women have launched an aid program to connect the new American refugees with helping hands of Individuals, businesses and charities across the nation. The new non-government organization, Help the Gulf People!, has launched its website, helpthegulf.lefora.com, a portal to match incoming 'refugee' needs with incoming resources.

BP's share price took another 2pc knock, after the chief of the company's oil spill response unit admitted that Hurricane Alex has spread oil inland. Robert Dudley, chief of BP's Gulf Coast restoration efforts, said high seas and winds were to blame for the growth of the slick. • BP said it was still investigating claims by a US freelance photojournalist that workers have been trucking new sand to Louisiana beaches. The new layers appear to conceal tar balls caused by the slick. • Admiral Thad Allen, the US incident commander, stuck to the official target date of August for...

As seas churned by Hurricane Alex thwarted skimming boats, wide strips of gooey oil stained miles of Baldwin County's beaches Thursday on the cusp of the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Following an afternoon reconnaissance flight, Gulf Shores and Orange Beach employees reported that oil of some sort -- be it sheen, tarballs or orange globs -- struck all 32 miles of Baldwin's beaches, and streams of oil were spotted as far north as Wolf Bay in Orange Beach. The post-flight report also noted heavy sheen and streams of weathered oil moving into Mobile Bay off the tip of the...

AccuWeather.com reports conditions will continue deteriorating in Brownsville and across deep South Texas through tonight as Hurricane Alex draws closer to the northeastern Mexican coast. Flooding rain is still the biggest concern for the region. The hurricane is expected to make landfall as a Category 2 storm north of La Pesca, Mexico late tonight (between 2 and 4 a.m. CDT Thursday). Alex will weaken rapidly as it moves inland through northeastern Mexico Thursday but continue to produce torrential rainfall into South Texas. Over 2 inches of rain already inundated Brownsville Thursday morning, and rainfall totals will continue to climb through...

Orange Beach, Ala- After seventy-some days of being ignored by the Obama Administration several residents of the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida Gulf Coast’s have taken to some very desperate measures in an effort to bring their plight to the attention of the White House and -hopefully- secure some much needed help in avoiding the destruction of their homes livelihood and way of life. Among some of the more extreme of these measures has been a group of person’s along those states who have started disguising themselves as Palestinians in an effort to gain not only the attention of the...

This video shows efforts by men and women to both rescue the wildlife of the Gulf of Mexico affected by the horrible oil spill. God Bless those folks who have step up to the plate in this much needed service.

Florida Real Estate Prices: Guess Which Direction This Chart Will Go Housing-Market / US Housing Jun 20, 2010 - 03:01 PM By: Mac Slavo The US real estate market all but fell off a cliff two years ago. Though there has been a very minor recovery, or rather, stabilization, in home prices, we recently pointed out that it makes sense to be gloomy. For those living anywhere near the gulf coast there has been no recovery, or really, any stabilization, as depicted by the follow chart from city-data.com: With a complete loss in the Gulf coast tourism industry we can...

According to the Obama administration, formulating a long-term Gulf Coast restoration plan can be done in someone's spare time. And all the duties of the Secretary of the Navy can be accomplished in less time than it takes the average person to do their full-time job. That's the message coming from the White House in response to complaints that current Navy Secretary and former Mississippi Governor Ray Mabus will keep his current position even after President Barack Obama chose him to develop that restoration plan. "The president talked to the governor about this, and they both agreed that he had...

Now Most Americans Think Gulf Wildlife And Beaches Will NEVER Recover Gus Lubin Jun. 16, 2010, 11:31 AM Image: the sierra club A new Gallup poll shows most people are very pessimistic about the oil spill. 59% of Americans say local wildlife will never cover. 49% say local beaches will never recover. Nearly everyone thinks wildlife and beaches will take more than ten years to recover. Most people say the spill will hurt the economy (83%), push up gas prices (79%), and push up food prices (79%). The polling numbers tell you everything you need to know about major publicity...

Government officials Tuesday increased the estimate of oil flowing into the Gulf to between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels (1.5 million to 2.5 million gallons) per day, up to 50 percent more than previously estimated. The government's previous estimate, issued last week, was 20,000 to 40,000 barrels per day. The change was "based on updated information and scientific assessments," and was reached by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and Chair of the National Incident Command's Flow Rate Technical Group Marcia McNutt, the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center said.

Wow, President Barak Obama, while down in the Gulf of Mexico for the fourth time, to check up on how the oil spill and its clean up is going on, says to everyone around the country to take a vacation trip to the Gulf, encouraging tourism during the summer.

President Barack Obama's most recent piece of performance art has him saying his meetings on the oil spill crisis are to figure out "whose ass to kick." According to Louisiana's LaFource Parish President Charlotte Randolph, he's already started kicking and the target is not the hindquarters of any oil company exec, contractor or corrupt government official - it's the people he's supposed to be helping.

Oil Guru: The Real Nightmare Will Be When A Hurricane Picks Up The Oil And Paints The Gulf Coast Black Joe Weisenthal Jun. 7, 2010, 10:15 PM Don't watch this video of oil guru Matthew Simmons on Dylan Ratigan if you're in the US and you're about to go to sleep. The Houston energy banker and author of Twilight in the Desert says we basically have two options: Let the well run dry (taking 30 years, and probably ruining the Atlantic ocean) or nuking the well. Barring those things, the best move would be to use supertankers to suck up...

BP announced Friday that oil and gas was being received on board the Discoverer Enterprise, a deepwater drillship, following the successful installation of a device to capture oil spewing from a mile-deep leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The successful placement of a containment cap above the Deepwater Horizon's failed blow-out preventer (BOP) followed the cutting of the riser pipe from the top of the BOP's lower marine riser package (LMRP).

Fore! Raise your hand if youÂ’re sick to the marrow of your bones reading about Obama golfing, or playing basketball, or swimming in the ocean, or vacationing, or going out for ice cream when crises are occurring. Yes, heÂ’s only human and he Â“shouldÂ” be permitted a bit of fun now and then. But heÂ’s in self-centered, college-freshman fun mode way too often Â— between his jetting all over creation to either bash Arizona or apologizing for America. IÂ’m guessing the bashing and apologizing (and bowing and spending and excessive taxpayer-funded White House partying) are considered Â“workÂ” mode. News alert...

NEW ORLEANS -- A longtime Hollywood star is now in the Metro area and in the business of cleaning up oil. Motivated by the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, Kevin Costner began assembling a team of scientists to construct a machine that could clean up massive spills. A decade and a half later, that technology might now be put to use off the coast of Louisiana. A massive oil slick creeping to the coast, vulnerable Louisiana wildlife just miles from its path, and Kevin Costner mingling on the lakefront. These are unusual times, and the Hollywood star is introducing his unusual machine...

On Sunday, U.S. District Court Judge Ginger Berrigan prevented oil giant BP from having ad hoc local workers sign agreements releasing the company from any liability in the cleanup efforts. Shrimpers, oyster harvesters and others who work on the water, concerned about protecting their livelihoods, have asked BP to hire them as daily contractors to fight the spill from the company’s Deepwater Horizon operation. When fisherman George Barasich learned that BP was “forcing” the workers to sign away certain rights and absolve the oil company of liability, he went to court. “Several hundred” fishers, many non-English speaking Vietnamese, signed the...

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has authorized two Air Force Reserve C-130H aircraft to support the response to a massive oil slick that threatens wetlands and beaches along the Gulf Coast, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell confirmed today. In addition, the Navy has dispatched 66,000 feet of inflatable oil boom with anchoring equipment, along with seven skimming systems and their supporting gear to the region, Navy Lt. Myers Vasquez reported. The C130 crews, assigned to the 910th Airlift Wing’s 757th Airlift Squadron at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Ohio, had prepositioned in Mississippi in anticipation of the tasking. “We...

Hello, The Gulf Oil Spill Is Obama's Katrina Joe Weisenthal Apr. 29, 2010, 9:53 PM Image: The White House It's been argued that Hurricane Katrina was one of George W. Bush's biggest organizational failures, for the tragedy was allowed to fester on for way too long before his much-vaunted homeland security apparatus sprang into action. Will the oil spill in the gulf -- which some suspect could be worse than Exxon Valdez -- be the equivalent for Barack Obama? Today the story got elevated to national emergency level, but the explosion on the rig happened eight days ago! Will numerous...

Sarah Palin, who made “drill baby drill” a 2008 campaign slogan, isn’t too pleased with President Obama’s new energy plan as laid out today. Palin, the former governor of Alaska and Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008, said on her Twitter page that she agreed with House Republican leader John Boehner that Obama’s plan is aimed at getting his “job-killing, energy-depleting, burdensome” cap and trade legislation through Congress. A source who is close to Palin said Palin believes Obama is trying to use his drilling plan as a sweetener to get some Republicans to support cap and trade as part...

Models continue to show the southern track of the forecast low from the southern tip of Texas, across the central Gulf of Mexico and into Florida. The upper air data still only captured about half of the actual upper system this morning so it has not been entirely sampled yet but close. There is some what of a northern tick in this model run versus those of yesterday and I think that will be the case to some extent for the next couple of runs but in general I still think the I-20 corridor is the area under the gun...

Here's a recipe for jambalaya that's sure to please your family and bring out the Coonie in you! This one has been handed down for a few generations and comes straight from Granny's kitchen in Louisiana and the gulf coast of Mississippi. It don't get no better than this!

Some home builders already struggling in Florida's dismal housing market are facing another headache: The Chinese-made drywall they used is causing unpleasant odors and possibly leading to electric problems in dozens of homes constructed during the housing boom.

My aunt, who used to live in Texas City, moved to Austin this summer. I collected these videos for her and thought some of my fellow Gulf Coast FReepers as well as some of those on NN's ping list might be interested in viewing them.

OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- 08/31/08 -- The Honourable David Emerson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay, Minister of National Defence and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, today announced that Canada is providing assistance with the evacuation of those in the path of Hurricane Gustav. At the request of the United States government, a Canadian Forces CC-177 aircraft left Canada earlier today for the southern U.S. Gulf Coast. The Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, indicated that he had spoken with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to offer further assistance. "Canada and the United States...

Today President Bush traveled to Orlando, Florida to speak to the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention. Unlike the whiney messiah who spoke to the VFW yesterday, President Bush didn’t hesitate to thank those have served and defended America in time of war. (Transcript) I know you share with me a deep love for America and an awesome pride in those who defend her. When I meet with our troops, they always inspire me with their sense of duty and honor.They are America's finest citizens. (Applause.) The President also spoke about the situation in Georgia, reinforcing the United States’ solidarity...

Drivers who get safely off Interstate 35E after arriving in Dallas from Austin or San Antonio have a certain look of relief – like they just outran a buffalo stampede. Only on I-35, the stampede is trucks. The white-knuckle experience helps make the case for some kind of reliever road, even a tolled one. Making that same case has been a harder sell for U.S. highways along the Gulf Coast and East Texas. Drivers there can judge their own level of congestion, and they have insisted that their mostly rural corridor doesn't warrant the major undertaking of a parallel turnpike....

There's been a lot of talk about the new Trans-Texas Corridor — the next-generation "super-highway" — and opinions are varying. Now the debate is coming to Lufkin's doorstep. On Monday, the American Land Foundation, Stewards of the Range and TURF will hold a workshop at Lufkin's Pitser Garrison Civic Center on how to stop the Trans-Texas Corridor 69. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A portion of Texas citizens have voiced their opposition to the TTC-69 in public meetings held by the Texas Department of Transportation, but believing they are not being heard, four cities and their...

Tom Kauffman thought that once a storm blew over people could go home, clean up a few things and return back to normal, everyday life. But two mission trips to Biloxi, Miss., changed his thinking. People are still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. "A storm doesn't just blow over and people don't go back to their homes the next day," said Kauffman, 69, of Manchester Township. "There's a lot of pain and suffering and a lot of waiting. I opened my eyes up." Kauffman plans to return to Biloxi a third...

State Sen. Glen Hegar says he opposes a route that would bring the mammoth Trans Texas Corridor through his district. The Texas Department of Transportation has kicked off a series of public meetings to discuss the project. Meetings are scheduled for Tuesday in Hempstead (6:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 22892 Mack Washington St.) and Jan. 29 in Bellville (at the Austin County fairgrounds, also beginning at 6:30 p.m.). No meetings are scheduled in Washington County, which likely wouldnâ€™t be impacted much by the highway project. Much of the discussion in public meetings already held centers on Interstate...

Today, on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, President and Mrs. Bush visited Louisiana and Mississippi and met with officials and citizens as they continue to recover from the devastation caused by the storm. This was the president’s fifteenth visit to the Gulf Coast in two years. President Bush: “This is the second anniversary of an event that changed a lot of people's lives ... And Laura and I are honored to be with some of those who endured the storm and have dedicated their lives to rebuilding this part of the world. The first couple arrived in Louisiana...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - There is an above-average chance that a major hurricane will hit the U.S. Gulf Coast this year, marking a possible return to the destructive seasons of 2004 and 2005, leading storm forecasters predicted on Tuesday. Hurricanes in 2005 devastated New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast, and knocked out a swath of the country's offshore oil platforms and coastal refineries, pushing oil prices to then-record highs. In 2004, four strong hurricanes struck Florida, the country's biggest citrus producer. AccuWeather and Colorado State University said Tuesday at a storm conference in Houston the chance that a...

NASA announced plans on Monday to build a new engine test stand at Stennis Space Center in Hancock County. The announcement represents an estimated $175 million investment in Stennis and serves to support the Constellation Project. That's NASA's plan to return the United States to the Moon and eventually to Mars. The new stand at Stennis will test NASA's J-2X engines, which will be used in the second stage of the Ares I launch vehicle. NASA officials say the new 300-foot-tall open-frame design will allow engineers to simulate conditions at different altitudes. The new stand will be completed in time...

Today the President travelled to the Gulf Coast to see how Hurricane Katrina recovery work is progressing he also visited a charter school in New Orleans. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attended a Senate briefing on Iraq and met with Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa at the State Department. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

Michael Brown, the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is shooting off his mouth again. Last week in New York City, he claimed that Mississippi and Louisiana were treated differently after Hurricane Katrina because of their politics. Unfortunately, Louisiana's Democratic governor, Kathleen Blanco, jumped on the suggestion, claiming that Brown had "broken the code of silence about the political conspiracy to hurt the people of Louisiana." Fortunately, Mississippi's Republican governor, Haley Barbour, took the time to consider the source of this conspiracy theory and said Brown's "credibility has been worn pretty thin over the last couple of years...

You'll be happy to hear that Biloxi's gaming business not only has made big strides since Hurricane Katrina devastated the coastline, but also that the restored casinos have expanded what they offer, and new properties are on the way. Before the storm that destroyed tens of thousands of gulf-area homes, Biloxi had nine casinos. Today, seven are back in business, including the glitzy Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, which reopened at the end of August, a year after Katrina hit. After the hurricane, the city changed its laws to allow casinos -- previously confined to floating structures at the water's...

LAUREL, Miss. — Jones County authorities are crediting two inmates with thwarting the escape attempt of a third. Sheriff Larry Dykes said a trusty at the jail, Danny Lamar Odom, 47, bolted Thursday from a work crew toward a field behind the jail. Dykes said Odom had been working in the kitchen and was helping unload food boxes from a delivery truck when the attempted escape occurred. Dykes said two younger trusties, Reginald Ducksworth and Jacob Lambert, also were helping unload the truck. They chased down Odom and brought him back to the jail. "I've never heard of anything like...